


It's All So Incredibly Loud

by peacvyy



Category: Rebirth - 69Michi (Webcomic)
Genre: Apocalypse, F/M, Zombie, Zombie Apocalypse, dunno how much it counts as underage since both characters are suck in younger bodies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:21:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28684752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacvyy/pseuds/peacvyy
Summary: Melody woke up in a body that isn't hers, and a world she didn't belong in.This is my first fanfic and I'm trying to keep everyone in character, but its not that easy when I write scenes that aren't in the comic... Sorry if some moments aren't in character.
Relationships: Neo Collins/OC
Kudos: 14





	1. Armageddon

**Author's Note:**

> If you spot any errors, feel free to tell me! I'm still trying to improve my work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone whos confused, Melody isn't in her body. Its someone who looks similar to her but isn't her.

"Melody!" I could hear my mother call me for the fifth time this morning, "I told you to get up an hour ago, we need to leave in thirty minutes." Wait that wasn't my mothers voice, where am I? I groaned and sat up, swinging my legs off the bed but flinching slightly at the contact with the cold floor. I quickly put an outfit together, a black and red striped sweater, black ripped jeans and black doc martens. I didn't mess with my hair besides brushing it and no makeup. Why do I look so young? I look almost 13, I'm supposed to be 17. I put in my earplugs, I could still hear with them on, it was just quieter, they're needed to help with auditory overloads, which I still had, sadly. I put my phone, headphones, and mp3 player in my pocket and walked out of my room, grabbing a small bag I was apparently told to pack yesterday then closed the door behind me. Turns out my _mom_ was waiting at the front door for me. "Took you long enough, we're gonna be late." She pinched the bridge of her nose, obviously annoyed.

 _'I didn't agree to go, and I don't even know where we're going.'_ I signed to her, which just added to her already annoyed expression. Ok so I'm still mute here, but where am I?

"You know I wont leave you alone here after what happened last time," she muttered mostly to herself and walked out the door. Last time? What happened last time? I rolled my eyes internally and walked out after her. 

~

A two hour car drive later and we were now parking in front of a mansion? Where the hell did she take me? I got out of the car and trailed behind my mother.

"Do me a favor and not embarrass me," she paused, "or glare at everyone you meet today." She glanced back at me and I looked away, staring at the ground, wanting to badly to glare back at her. As soon as we got to the front door, we were met by a maid who lead us into the house. Jesus, how rich were these people? 

"Wait here please," was the last thing that was said to us before the maid left. 

_'So why did I have to pack a bag?'_

"Because we were invited by a friend and he has a son that's your age." My mother sighed, "besides at your age you should already be looking for someone to get married to for the company." Wait what? An arranged marriage? As if someone read my mind with the fact I didn't want to deal with this right now, three people came through the front door. A woman with lavender hair, a man with black hair who looked very annoyed, and a little girl. I feel like I've seen them somewhere before. My mother started talking to them but the little girl was intensely focused on me for some reason. I recognized them but couldn't place the names...

"You have really pretty hair, miss." She said randomly after staring for almost a full minute. I stared at her, surprised. Has she never seen red hair before, or was it the fact it was a darker red that was weird?

"She doesn't talk," my mom told her which only seemed to make her even more interested in me. 

"What's your name? Why don't you talk? What are those things in your ears? Oh! What's your favorite food-"

"Iva you're going to overwhelm the poor girl," the woman who I assumed was her mother spoke up. Iva... That name...

"Oh... I'm sorry." She looked at the ground.

"Whatever, where the hell is Noah?" The man started walking away only to turn back to us. "Are you gonna help or what?" Wait, Noah? 

~

"Where is that son of a bitch?" He cursed, even though he was well aware there was a child, his own kid, right there next to him.

"Ian, please watch your language in front on Iva." Lena spoke quietly. Ian was really beginning to get on my nerves and I've only known him for five minutes. Walking around a corner, we're met with a guy that looks very similar to Ian, If you add glasses, make him super pale and take a few inches off, holy shit don't tell me... Half behind him was a boy that looked awfully similar to Neo from Rebirth. What's going on? Am I dreaming? No, this feels too real.

"Oh look, speak of the devil." My thoughts were interrupted by a very overconfident man. 

"Good to see you too, Ian." Oh boy, he didn't sound happy to see him at all. I don't blame him. 

"What's with that attitude? Not happy to see your older brother, President Noah?" Holy shit, I'm in Rebirth. How the hell did I manage to get here of all places?

"What do you want? Money? Again?" Again? What the hell has this man been doing all his life? "As I recall, you have been holding 20% of the company's shares of stock. How about you start making use of that and stop leeching off me? We might be brothers, but I cant keep spoon feeding you forever, Ian" Noah finished and adjusted his glasses.

"You're as unfriendly as ever, I see. You little shit." Ian's glare was honestly terrifying, I don't know how anyone could put up with this man. "Father was foolish to give the company to the likes of you. All you know how to do is act weak and sickly to get special treatment. You piss me off Noah." God, this guy was getting annoying. He just kept going off even though no one was even listening. What was the chapter did he die in again? 26 or something?

"Uncle Noah!" I heard a small voice whisper, Iva. 

"Hey, jackass, are you even listening?" No, Ian, no one was.

"Wasn't listening," Noah responded quickly, walking around Ian. I held in a laugh, which earned a glare from my mother.

"What?!" Ian just looked pissed at this point, but Iva was practically glowing.

"Long time to see uncle Noah!" God, I forgot how much I love this kid.

"Hey Iva, long time no see." Noah kneeled down to Iva's height, "did you know today is Neo's birthday?" Oh, right. Forgot about that part of the comic. I glanced over to Neo, who, to my surprise, was already staring me down. I knew his personality already so looking away was probably the best option. 

"Is it?!" Iva practically yelled, causing my attention to snap back to her. "Happy birthday, cousin Neo!"

"Birthday? When did you start celebrating his birthday?" Ian scoffed. Both Lena and Neo looked away from him, for different reasons. Neo was obviously uninterested while Lena was most likely embarrassed.

"Another word and you're on your own for the next month, Ian." Noah snapped at him. Funny how Ian's supposed to be older but Noah acts like the older one.

"Oooh, scary. Fine I'll shut up." Ian sounded almost sarcastic, but of course it was Iva that broke the tension. It always was her after all.

"Will there be birthday cake, uncle Noah?" Iva asked, almost drooling at the idea.

"Of course there is," I could've sworn I heard him hesitate. "Would you like to come with us and have a bite?" 

"Iva" Oh, I cant wait until this man dies.

"S-sorry, I would love too but I already ate..." Iva looked very upset with her fathers decision, "I hope cousin Neo will enjoy the cake though!" She tried to put that happiness back into her voice. 

"That's too bad then," Noah stood back up, patting Iva's head. "Iva, you're a good kid. Now only if your dad could listen as well as you do..." 

"Asshole, I heard that." Ian glared at Noah.

"I wasn't exactly whispering." Noah glared back, before looking at me and my mom. "Ah, Kira, and Melody, I'm guessing." I looked off to the side, still too dazed by the fact that I'm even here.

"Excuse Melody's behavior, she usually doesn't meet people like this." She glanced over at me, "and thank you for the invitation." 

"You should probably thank Parish for that, she's upstairs if you'd like to find her. Melody, would you like to join me and Neo?" He looked over to me and I just shrugged. I guess he took it as a yes cause he just started walking. "Alright then, Neo, let's go."

"Tempting a little girl with cake sounds like something a perverted old man would do." That was the first this neo said since we left, I nearly choked on a laugh at that. 

"P-perverted?" Noah looked shocked at that comment, "she was the one who asked about the cake, It would be rude not to invite her." He messed with a strand of his hair.

"Wow. Suddenly so considerate of everyone." Neo looked at him with a very intense stare. 

"I can't wait to try the cake."

"You don't even like sweets," Neo pointed out, adjusting his mask. Wasn't that mask special or something? "You're terrible at changing the subject."

"You're just too harsh on me... So it's just gonna be us eating the cake then?" Wait, who said I was gonna?

"No, I don't like chocolate cake."

"Oh, come on! It's your birthday. At least give it a try! What about you, Melody?" Noah looked back at me, expectantly. I just shook my head. Did my mother tell them I was mute? I haven't even been questioned about why I didn't talk.

~

I surprisingly left before Neo did, I guess I just got bored faster. I decided to wander around trying to figure out the layout of the house, the comics only showed so much. Of course, I ended up lost, the place was huge, it was almost a maze. I guess I ended up super close to Neo's room because as soon as I turned a corner I accidentally ran into him. 

_'Sorry,'_ I quickly signed out of reflex, forgetting most the people here don't know sign language. Neo watched me for a second, probably confused.

"Melody, was it?" He narrowed his eyes, "how the hell did you manage to get all the way to the opposite side of the house?" How was I supposed to talk to him? Oh, wait. I took my phone out of my pocket and opened notes.

' _I got lost.'_

"Lost?" He let out a small laugh, "Noah or Li will probably find you eventually." I know I shouldn't have been as disappointed as I was. I mean I know exactly what Neo is like, but I couldn't keep the disappointment from showing on my face. Neo noticed. "Fine, whatever." He sighed and walked past me, "you can stay for a little bit, only to keep the dog entertained, but then you have to find your way back to the room you're supposed to be in." Neo opened the door and Hail came rushing out, stopping at Neo but running to me as soon as he saw me.

~

It felt like hours had gone, Hail had no end to his energy. A knock on the door scared him and he went straight under the blankets. Neo dropped the earing and got up to open the door. I already had a feeling I knew who it was, and I was right, Noah. 

"Evening..." Noah sounded very nervous, and he, of course, was met with a very unamused stare from Neo. "I'm surprised you're still up," He then looked into the room and saw me, "you, too. Isn't it pretty late?" 

"She got lost and ended up here," Neo motioned back at me. "Plus if it's that late, then why are you here?"

"How was the cake?" I deadpanned at Noah's very terrible attempt to change the subject.

"You came all the way here just to ask that?" Neo turned away, "you're very horrible at changing the subject." Noah just stared for a second.

"Don't go to school tomorrow," Neo and I both looked at him, "both of you."

"Why?" Neo tilted his head slightly, "care for an explanation?" We both watched him, waiting for him to explain. I already knew the whole conversation that was already going to happen in a second.

"Is it too sudden? You don't want to?"

"I don't care, whatever." Neo looked off to the side, more towards where Hail was hiding next to me. "Aren't you always telling me what to do? Why bother asking for my permission now?" I got up, leaving now before Noah invited himself to stay was probably a better option than waiting around. Neo watched me grab my phone and walk towards the door before returning his attention to Noah. "If you're done here shouldn't you get a move on? Unless you're planning on spending the night here, father dearest." Wow, the irony of that line. 

"Oh, thank you for the kind offer. I think I'll do just that." Was the last thing I heard before the door closed behind me.

~

I had found Li shortly after I left, turns out the room I was staying is was right down the hall from Neo's. I was in the right area of the house after all. 

~

I woke up as someone walked into my room. 

"Huh..." I sat up slowly, my eyes adjusting. It was still so dark why would someone be up right now? I was met with a very confused Noah. Wait was it already time? I looked over at the clock, 2:15 pm, the the Armageddon. How was I awake? Everyone was asleep besides the people from the future. Was it because I'm not from this world? 

"How are you awake and did you just say something?" I got up and grabbed my phone, typing as I walked over to him.

_'I'll explain later, aren't there things you have to get done right now?'_

"Oh, right..." He looked down to the earing. 

Walking to the garage was a pain, but I knew it would be worth it. 

"It seems they managed to deliver everything I asked for..." Noah put on the earing. I know what it is, but I never thought I'd be able to see it in person. Noah touched the box, which disappeared into the earing, leaving bright red dust in the air for a few seconds. Noah went around getting all the boxes, and I was left with a backpack.

About an hour of helping with finding stuff later and we were done. Noah had left to find some people and told me to wait in Neo's room. I must've fallen back asleep at some point, because I woke up to Neo kneeling in front of me with the earing on. I didn't remember seeing Noah use the blood contract on the earing for Neo. 

"Finally up, huh?" He stood up, "Come on, everyone else is already up." 


	2. Mute?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clear up any confusion, Melody is selectively mute. She can talk but chooses not to.

I followed Neo out of the room just in time to hear Noah ask where he was.

"Li, have you seen Neo?" Li tilted her head and looked directly at Neo and I.

"Him and Melody just came up right behind you," she pointed at us. I noticed my mom wasn't in the group of people here. 

"What do you want?" Neo looked up at Noah, who just stared at him for a minute before patting his head and turning him around. I had never figured out what Noah had tried to do, so I was just as confused as Neo here. "Quit it." Neo slapped Noah's hand away, "what are you doing!?" He glared back at Noah. 

"Sorry... Got a little worried," Noah backed up a step.

"Someone died on your property but that's all you care about?" Ian spoke up, "you do realize there's no such thing as self defense to the media right?" Noah looked over to him, if only he knew what was happening right now. "How are you going to cover this up? 'The son of the famous ARK company pushed an innocent servant to his doom.'" Ian smirked, "sounds pretty catchy for a headline, right?" I really wanted to just rip Ian's head off, he was getting really annoying.

"Are you implying you'll tell this to the media?" 

"Are you implying you'll sweep this under the rug? That's pretty messed up, Mr. CEO." Ian leaned against the wall behind him.

"W-wait! It was an accident," Parish tried jumping into the conversation. "Maybe he's not dead yet, we can call an ambulance-"

"I don't know about you Parish, but he looked very dead to me last time I checked." Ian put his hands in his pockets, "don't worry," not sure if that should make me worry more or less, "since we're family, I'll keep my mouth shut just for you. But you know how business works, right?" 

"Ian!" Parish was stopped by Noah.

"Oh? Blackmail?" Noah smirked, "you should stop embarrassing yourself, brother." Neo and I had backed off at this point, it was more entertaining to watch then to try and intervene. "Sure, go tell the media, see if they care." Ironic, most of them were probably dead by now. 

"Noah, I know all your tricks. You can't silence the media once this gets out, I'll make sure of it." 

Neo nudged my arm and pointed down the hall. Undead. Only one right now, but there would be more.

"Rika?!" The red haired girl stood up, "Is that you are you okay?" She walked over to her, as if she didn't even realize how different she looked. "It really is you!" Noah looked over to her, "I've been looking for you, I was so worried..." She's so dead. "Something scary happened, I'm glad you're fine."

"Idiot!" Noah yelled, "get away from her!"

"Huh?" She went to back up but it was too late, she was bitten again. "ARGH!" Everyone looked over to her. "R-Rika?!"

"Someone do something!" Parish yelled at everyone. I shook my head, this woman can be really dumb sometimes. Although we couldn't do anything, Li went to help. Noah grabbed her before she could leave.

"What do you think you're going to do?" He questioned her.

"You don't want me to help her?" Li tilted her head slightly.

"What are you waiting for? Get her off her!" Parish was yelling and it was getting on my nerves. "Call the emergency line!" Not even my earplugs were blocking out how loud this woman was being. Neo seemed to be just as annoyed as me because he was the one that shut her up.

"Old hag, you're too loud. Can you shut up?" 

"W-what?!"

"If you want to save her, then make sure you can handle those over there too." Neo pointed to the rest of the undead coming around the corner. "Good luck." My mother wasn't even in the group of undead. Where the hell was she?

"Head to the room at the end of the corridor!" Noah told us all as he turned to make a run for it.

"Do you mean master Neo's room?" Li questioned. As much as I like her, this isn't the time to ask questions. "Why can't we hide in madam's room?" I don't know, do you wanna fight the undead right there?

"There's a 'meal' right in front of the door. It's suicide to hide in there." Noah was right. None of us are gonna use abilities, which means we cant fight them right now. "What are you waiting for?" He looked back at everyone, "do you want to get mauled like her?" He grabbed Neo's arm, pulling him away. "Neo, let's go!"

"Old man, I can walk by myself." Neo pulled away from him and walked to his room. I caught up with him easily, everyone else got in too. We waited until the screaming died down, it was definitely traumatizing. especially to Iva and Abel.

"I-it went quiet..." Lena spoke up once the screaming stopped.

"It went quiet? D-does that mean..." Parish trailed off her sentence.

"We're next," I muttered. Only Neo actually heard since he was next to me, and it earned a confused look from him. I don't even know why I spoke either, might be the shock. 

"That means we're next if you don't help me block this door up." Noah cut in.

~

Moving the dresser was a pain, not going to lie. Plus it wont even hold for long.

"Mama, what was that?" Iva was over talking to Lena, the poor girl must be terrified. "I'm scared... Can we go home?" 

"It was nothing, dear." Lena tried comforting her daughter, "just hold on a bit more, okay?"

"Was she... Eating her?" Abel. I hate that kid so much.

"We should call the police," and you, Parish, should parish. I was tired of listening to everyone complaining so I walked over to where Neo was at the window. 

"Ah..." I looked out the window, there were undead everywhere.

"What even happened back there?" Ian was practically yelling, "was that some sort of joke?"

"Sure, that looks like a joke." Neo was still staring outside, completely unfazed. 

"Huh?" Ian walked over to where Neo and I were standing, "did you say something, brat?! If you have a problem..." I pointed outside and he stopped talking. "Shit, you must be joking with me..."

"Dear, what is it?" Lena also stopped when she looked outside. "W-what is all of that... Are they... People?" I mean what else would they be?

"Not good. Nobody's picking up at the emergency line..." Parish really tried calling the police? Are you serious? 

"What is this? A zombie apocalypse? This better be a joke." Please can Ian just die already?

"Keep telling yourself that and maybe everything will go back to normal." Noah walked to the backpack I had help him put together only hours earlier. 

"Dear, what should we do?" Parish please just be quiet and let the man think.

"We're leaving," He answered quite simply.

"Leaving?" Parish questioned, "Shouldn't we wait for the rescue team? I'm sure they're on the way..." 

"Rescuers aren't coming, and we don't have time to just sit around." 

"Papa," Abel got Noah's attention. "What's in the bag?"

"Supplies," he looked back to the bag. 

"Supplies? Is it just me or does it seem like you're awfully prepared for this kind of situation?" Ian walked over to Noah. "Scratch that, you seem awfully calm. Didn't you see what happened? People are killing each other!" I really didn't want to watch this happen again. "Listen to me! Are you deaf?" 

"Oh, sorry. Then what do you should be my appropriate reaction?" Noah looked over at Ian, "screaming and whining like a little girl, just like you?" I stepped forward just as Lena did, but I beat her to it. 

"You little-"

"Shut the fuck up!" I grabbed Ian's arm and pulled him as hard as I could, getting him away from Noah just a bit. "You're annoying as hell, quit it." I obviously startled most the people in the room, because I got almost all of them staring at me.

"This is none of your business, kid!" He pushed me away. Instead of hitting the floor, I fell back onto Neo, who ended up being a lot closer then I thought he was. 

"Ian, stop acting so pathetic," Noah adjusted his collar. "That kind of attitude will get you killed someday." 

"Tsk." He glared at me as he walked past, I returned it, of course.

"Sir, are you okay?" Li walked over to Noah. Yeah cause he was totally the one that was just shoved halfway across the room.

"Yeah I'm fine," Noah replied.

"And this bag is..?" 

"Just a bunch of small things I collected around the house." Convenient of you to leave out the fact that I helped.

"Ah, I see." 

"What do we do now, Papa?" Abel was clinging to Parish now. 

"How about we use our private helicopter on the rooftop?" Parish pointed upwards, "it's faster... And safer."

"No," Noah looked back at Parish. "We're using the car in the garage." This is giving me a headache, I already know how we end up getting out. I walked over to the balcony, Neo followed me. 

"So noisy," He looked back at everyone else, then at the dog that was hiding under the bed. "Ah... Wait." He went over to the bed just as everyone else was walking over. Noah tied the blanket to the balcony railing.

"Ian, climb down first and make sure its clear." Noah looked back at his brother.

"I don't take orders from you," Ian glared. "Besides, it's dangerous. Why do I have to go first?" 

"Really?" Noah was beginning to get fed up with Ian. 

"Master Noah, let me go first." Li volunteered.

"Thanks, Li." Noah sighed.

"It's my duty, Sir." She walked towards the railing. I noticed Parish looking back at Neo.

"Neo, we need to go." Parish called back at Neo, "what are you doing?" Neo had the dog.


	3. Car Ride

"A dog? Where did that dog come from?" Parish just stared at Neo, confused. "You can't possibly be thinking about taking that thing with you..." 

"Puppy!" Iva looked excited to see the dog.

"That's my dog..." Abel looked at the dog. 

"Neo, drop the dog! We have no time for him." Neo didn't listen to Parish, "don't be stubborn!" 

"Old hag, nobody's asking for your permission." Neo picked up the dog. 

"W-what?! Old hag? How can you talk like that to your mother?" I tapped Parish on the shoulder.

_'So why can't he keep the dog?'_ She looked at me like I was insane. 

"This is ridiculous! Both of you are being a pain!" Parish looked back to Neo, "there's no way your father would agree to this-"

"Let him keep the dog," Noah cut in. A mutant dog was probably going to be useful to him later on if I had to guess. 

"Noah! What are you talking about?!" Parish turned to Noah, "we already have 4 children with us. We don't have time for a pet!" 

"It's alright, I can assure you everything will be fine. Though, only if you listen to me, that is." That was directed more towards Parish, but everyone decided to listen to it. Parish shrunk away from Noah. "Now, let's get a move on already." If I remembered the storyline right, Noah had said that a year after the first eclipse, a second one happened that only affected animals. Maybe having a dog wasn't so bad, as long as it didn't turn and attack us. Li climbed down from the balcony, after a minute, the all clear was given. One by one, we all followed her down. I looked back, noticing Noah looking at me and Neo as we were walking to the garage. 

"Wait," Li put her hand us stopping us. Noah walked to where Li was standing. 

"What is it now? Why are we stopping?" Maybe, Parish, if you would be quiet, you would find out.

"Sir..." Li pointed ahead, almost whispering.

"Yeah, I can hear them." Noah was staring straight ahead where there were currently four undead. Right in front of the garage too. If I could just find out if I had an ability or not, this would be so much easier. 

"So loud..." I muttered, Neo nodded in agreement. 

"What should we do?" Lena spoke up, "we can't get to the garage without going past them..."

"We already came all the way here, there's no other choice." Noah took the backpack off and started going through it. "It shouldn't be hard to run past them while they're distracted. Worse comes to worst, taken them down."

"Wait, what do you mean by taking them down?" Parish looked over to Noah.

"Sorry for not being clear," he pulled a knife out of the bag. "I mean kill them, as quickly as possible." 

"Pardon!? Kill?! That's a crime! Are you crazy? We cant to that-"

"Quiet!" Noah put his hand over her mouth to shut her up. I swear, this woman is going to get us all killed. Li peeked around the corner after a minute of waiting.

"It seems like they didn't notice, Sir."

"Give me a freaking heart attack why don't you..." Noah let Parish go.

"Maybe we can talk some sense into them..." Lena tried giving us an idea.

"Ma'am, they're devouring raw meat like it's nothing." Li looked back at Lena, "and you've witnessed what they did to Elise. I don't think 'talking' is an option." 

"Wait, are you actually serious?" Ian is really just trying to be annoying, huh?

"Only in the worst scenario." Noah sighed, "I'd prefer we all make a run for it, get to the garage and shut it. They seem a but sluggish, I assume they don't like bright light." I covered my ears, there was too much going on. Everything was starting to blend together. "Li will take care of them if they get too close," Noah handed the knife to Li. "If you have to, go for the head and run immediately after you stab them, they won't go down easily. I'm sorry to ask this of you, but I can't trust anyone else to do this."

"It's my duty, Sir," Li smiled slightly. "Don't worry about it." 

"Abel, go with Ian. Parish and Lena, look after Iva." Noah looked back Neo and I. 

"We can take care of ourselves-" Neo started only to be interrupted.

"Then stay close to me," He grabbed both of us and started running. The undead noticed almost instantly, I felt my stomach drop. We got to the door, everyone else was a little behind though. "Hurry!" Noah yelled, just as an undead came up behind Lena and Iva. No, I wont let them die. I ran forward, Li was a too far to reach it from there so I kicked it back to her before it could reach Lena and backed up into the garage. Li reacted quickly and stabbed it. 

"Playing hero, huh?" I turned, Neo was behind me. 

_'No, I would just rather a little girl didn't have to die.'_ I quickly typed. 

"Hm... By the way, you should probably look at the battery on that." What? I looked at the battery, 37%... "Looks like someone's gonna have to start talking soon." I sighed in annoyance. Apparently, in the time Neo and I were talking, everyone had gotten into the garage. 

"My apology, Sir, I lost the knife." I heard Li say, which caused me to turn and face where everyone else was. Lena was off to the side comforting Iva, who was crying. 

"What are you talking about? It's just a kitchen knife, we can find a better one." I noticed Noah's choker went from yellow to now blue again. "You did great, thank you for saving Lena and Iva." 

"Did great?! She just stabbed someone!" Parish yelled, "she didn't even bat an eye! She works for us, it wouldn't be good if someone found out!" 

"Maybe you didn't hear me the first time, Parish." Noah looked over to Parish, clearly annoyed. "She saved Lena and Iva. Had it been you who were attacked, would you still complain?" He had a point.

"But Noah-"

"Mom," Abel interrupted her. "They're monsters. Didn't you see that the girl was still moving after being stabbed in the head?" I hate to admit it, but Abel is right. "It was just self defense" 

"You're right..." Parish looked down. 

"Cut the chit chat. where are we going now? We've got nothing on us." Ian looked at the bag, "besides your stupid bag that came out of no where."

"Since we've got access to a car now, shouldn't we try to reach the police?" Lena was still off to the side, comforting Iva. 

"Yeah, lets go to the police station," Parish still looked nervous. "They should know what's going on, they'll help us..." 

"You really think the police would-" Noah stopped himself from saying that they wouldn't be any help. These people are way too dense, it wouldn't help to say it again. "Fine, let's go to the police station." he opened the drivers side door. Abel sat with Parish, Iva with Lena, Ian then Li sitting in the floor of the back, there was barely enough space. That left only me and Neo. 

"There's not enough space, what's she supposed to do? Sit on my lap? Forget about it." Neo glared at Noah. I shook my head, also not liking that idea. 

"Sorry, but there really isn't enough space for everyone. Plus Melody's small enough," Noah pointed out. "If you dislike my idea, you can switch places with Abel. You can sit in the back and he can sit with Li." I looked over to Neo, he was looking away from me. 

"Disgusting," Neo clicked his tongue in annoyance and got in the car. After a lot of pestering from Noah, I finally gave in. I ended up with the dog, which is a plus, but both Neo and I were obviously annoyed and uncomfortable. Noah was trying to hold back laughter. "Shut up," Neo put on his mask. I just glared at Noah.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you..." That was an obvious lie. Noah opened the garage door using the little remote in the car. "Now that I remember, it's been a while since I drove..."

"Then you better drive like your life depends on it." I mean, Neo wasn't wrong. 

~

I didn't realize 'drive like your life depends on it' meant flooring it through the city. There were undead everywhere...

"It's worse than I thought..." I heard Parish mutter. 

"The nearest police station is on the other side of that crowd," I looked over to Noah. "If you still want to go there." 

"I-I'm not sure anymore... It doesn't seem like we can charge through that many of them..."

"The entire city is in chaos, I doubt the police would be able to-" Noah stopped, suddenly slamming on the breaks. Neo grabbed onto me so I didn't do flying though the windshield. A girl started banging on the window.

"I think she's asking for our help," Lena was holding onto Iva.

"Don't be absurd, we have no more room in here." Ian was just glaring out the window at the girl. 

"She wants the car." I tried telling them, only to be ignored.

"Are those her friends..?" Lena pointed at a group that was in front of the car. "They don't look very friendly..."

"She wants the damn car!" I was louder this time, getting their attention. I think the girl heard it too, because she stopped banging on the window and kicked the car before running with the group. 

"Or she just wanted the car," Noah sighed. "Of course." 

"The police really must be out of commission if they let those kind of people wreck havoc like that..." I just decided to tune them out, I already knew they were talking about going to Koxu, which was probably not a good idea. Especially if what happened in Noah's original timeline happens again.

~

I must've ended up falling asleep at some point during the drive, because I woke up to Neo shaking me softly. 

"If you're going to sleep at least let me take the dog out, will you?" I sighed and tapped the window.

"Move." Noah looked back at me and Neo.

"You're in the way, we need to get out." Neo decided to finish talking for me. 

"My bad," Noah stepped away from the door, letting us get out. I was already up, so I wasn't going to fall back to sleep anytime soon. "What are you two doing up so late? Get some rest, let the adults take care of the look out." Kids, huh? If I wasn't in this damn 13 year old's body, you wouldn't have said that. 

"Adult? You really do treat me like a little kid," Neo sighed. "I'm just letting the dumb dog out to do his business." The dog jumped out of the car and into the grass. "Nobody said anything about helping with your 'look out.'" 

"Ah, right, we didn't really get a proper chance to stop until now." Noah leaned against the car again. "You seem to like him. I didn't know you were a dog person." 

"Do I really seem so to you?"

"You aren't?"

"Who knows." That was met with silence. I just sat down in the grass, not feeling like talking, especially since my phone was now dead.

"Anyway, I don't think he has a name yet." Noah tried changing the subject, "do you want to name him?" 

"Hmp..." Neo thought about it for a second, "Deadmeat." I Just burst out laughing, this was always one of my favorite scenes. 

"Ah, Deadmeat, that's a nice name- Not!" Noah just added to how much I was already laughing, "what kind of pet name is _that?"_

"Then Steamed Bun? Steak? Porkchop? Noodle?" I was practically crying at this point. 

"Is food all you can think about when you look at him?" 

"Then you name him if you care that much." 

"Then how about Hail? I used to have a dog called Hail-"

"Tacky. What are you? A five year old?" 

"Baby," I called over to the dog, I had been calling him that and he just responded. I wasn't sure why. "Come here." He ran over to me. 

"How long have you been talking, exactly?" Noah looked down at me, now playing with the dog. 

"Since my phone died," I didn't bother looking back at him, the dog ran off again. "I don't exactly have any other way of talking, now do I?" 

"Although, that does sound batter than Deadmeat." Both Noah and I looked over to Neo. 

"Then Hail it is?" 

"Whatever." Not even a few minutes later, Neo decided to call the dog back. "Marshmallow, come back." He called, Hail came back. I started laughing again. "Good boy, snow cone," He bent down to pick him up. "Up you go, Mr. Floofy McFlufferton the third." 

"Neo, can you not?!" I was still laughing, I knew I would probably miss these moments later on. 


	4. City

We had been driving for a whole day and everyone was hungry. Abel and Iva were complaining to their mothers in the back. Neo and I were also pretty hungry, but we weren't going to start complaining. I wonder if Neo knew about the food in the earing. I know he knew what the earing was, since he wasn't from this timeline either, but did he know what Noah put in it?

"Sir, we've been driving non-stop for a whole day." I heard Li in the back. "We don't have any proper food on us and it's still a long way until we reach Koxu..." 

"Li, there should be a few bags of chips left in the backpack. Give those to the kids." Noah told Li, "although you're right, chips aren't filling enough. We'll need proper food." 

"That backpack again," I heard Ian. "How are you so prepared, anyways?"

"None or your business." 

"Asshole." 

"Asford is a decent sized city," Li cut into the brothers conversation. "There should be some malls for convenience stores that we can drop by and check, Sir." 

"Not a bad option," Noah kept looking over at the sidewalks. "All I've been seeing are dead corpses littering the sidewalks and no signs of those monsters walking around. This city may be our best option," Noah stopped the car.

"Wait..." Parish sounded unsure about what we were doing. "Dropping by to check? As in getting out of the car? That's suicidal!" 

"Then feel free to stay back in the car on your own." Noah took the keys out of the ignition. I opened the door almost instantly, free to finally get away from Neo for a little. 

"Wait!" I heard Parish from inside the car, "Hold on! Are you really going..?" 

"Noah's right," Lena told her. "We're running out of food and water. Us adults can take it, but the kids can't go on like this." 

"Just listen to Papa, Mom," Able hopped out of the car. "You question him too much." Parish apparently decided to get out of the car. The city being almost abandoned was strangely calming, although I knew this wouldn't last very long.

"This is disgusting..." Parish covered her mouth, "what's even goin on? A plague? War?" 

"Keep the kids close and try to stay calm," easier said than done. 

"Sir." Li was looking off to the side.

"What is it, Li?" Noah looked back at her.

"There's a group of people approaching us." Li was still staring off to the side, where the people were. "They look like normal people." 

"How can you even tell if they're normal?" Ian jumped into the conversation as the group approached us.

"I'm not sure about you, but they look normal to me." 

"Alright, smartass. I wasn't talking to you." 

"Excuse us..." The guy in the front of the group spoke up. "Hello, my names Wyn. I know we're all wary of each other because of what's going on, but I assure you, we're just normal citizens like you." 

"What do you people want?" Ian got defensive out of no where. "Approaching us in this kind of situation, I don't believe you guys mean anything good."

"Ian stop it. Even if they mean harm, do we look like we have anything good for them to steal?" Noah had a good point. "Besides, don't you want to find out what happened to all those corpses littering the street? Their city seems to have a pretty good cleanup crew compared to ours." 

"Dear calm down..." Lena went over to Ian.

"Alright Wyn, you got our attention," Noah continued. "What exactly happened here and what do you want from us? I assume you didn't approach us just because we're another group of survivors." 

"Thank you for allowing me the chance to speak," Wyn looked nervous, "I will try to make it brief." 

~

"A group of soldiers passed by the city, and one of them had some sort of special power?" 

"He exploded a person's head with his bare hands?" Ian narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" 

"No, not bare handed, he was using some sort of electricity power." Wyn corrected Ian, "alright I know this sounds a bit hard to believe, but it's the truth. If not, do you really think normal citizens like us could really kill those monsters? You do realize how hard it is to take even one of them down, right?" 

"Let's say I believe you. If the military really did pass though here, why didn't you go with them?" Noah took a step forward. "I thought the military's mission would be to save stranded survivors like us in these kinds of disasters." 

"Under normal circumstances, we probably would have, but this is a bit of a special case..." 

"What special case?" As much as I hate Ian, he's right to be paranoid. "This all sounds like a make believe story." 

"I know its hard to believe, but think about it, why would we bother lying to you?" I already knew Wyn was trustworthy, so I personally didn't care about this conversation. The one thing that bothered me was the military... They were already going after Neo. 

"As paranoid as my brother is, he still has a point. What exactly is your 'special case?' If the guy was as strong as you said, even if you don't trust the military, wouldn't they still be your best ticket to get in a safe zone?" 

"Well, you see, Mana demanded us to stay away from them..." Mana, huh?

"Where is she?" I walked to the front of the group where Noah, Neo and Li were. 

"How did you even know Mana was..." Oops, force of habit. 

"Doesn't matter, where is she?" 

"I'm right here." Mana stepped out of the group. "I told him those soldiers were dangerous and we should wait for you guys." 

"And who is this brat?" Ian crossed his arms.

"Are you serious-"

"Excuse me, who are you calling a brat?!" I covered my ears, the sudden spike in noise making me uncomfortable. "I'll have you take me seriously! I have god's gift!

"God's gift, huh?" I muttered and uncovered my ears.

"Predict the future? You are all out of your mind to believe a child's nonsense." I had tuned out them arguing about Mana's 'power'. It was really annoying. Now that I'm thinking about it, will I end up with an ability? I know its not a very good chance, but I don't want to be completely useless. I was pulled out of thought by Noah looking back at me and Neo.

"What?" Neo looked up at him. Why was he looking at me too? I thought it was only Mana and Neo he remembered...

"Ah, nothing..." He looked back at the rest of the group.

"The more people the better, isn't it?" Mana was still continuing with her little rant.

"That's not how it works in the situation," Noah explained to her. "Food and water will be scarce if order isn't restored and undead aren't eradicated." 

"Talking about food and water," Li spoke up. "I see a mall in the distance, do you think we should stop by there?" 

"Mall? Do you mean that mall over there?" Wyn pointed to the mall, you could see a bunch of undead through the glass. "It's exactly what you're thinking. Swarming those glass doors are those monsters. The morning the outbreak happened, the mall was having a sale. As a result, the mall is swarming with monsters." Yeah but I know we still go in anyways. 

"That's not possible, dear." Parish tried convincing Noah not to go, "let's not..." 

"You say that, but do we really have any other option?" 

"If you're really in dire need, we just happen to have some dry food, as long as you let us-"

"We aren't going into debt." Noah and I both spoke at the same time. 

"It doesn't seem like we have a lot of options to begin with," Noah continued. "I do understand the risk of this trip, Li, Parish, Lena, you keep the children safe and stay back."

"You said yourself this is suicidal, and you expect me to go with you?" Ian asked.

"You don't have to, if you're a woman or child." 

"Son of a..."

"Sir, please let me go with you." Li stepped forward. 

"Li, you don't have to."

"I insist, Sir."

"Ah, fine, thank you..." Noah sighed.

"We're going too," Neo pulled me forward with him. Why did he want me to go? 

"It's really dangerous, I don't think you two should-"

"I _insist."_

"Fine, you two can come, but stick close to me." Of course, Abel asked to go too, which was met with a no. I stayed towards the back of the group with Neo as all the people from the other group joined. 

"Why, exactly, are you dragging me along?" I asked Neo, I wasn't really expecting him to answer. 

"Cause you aren't as annoying as everyone else, especially _her_." He answered just as Mana yelled right behind me. 

"Hey, hey! Don't forget about me!" I covered my ears again, this girl was so loud... I moved away from her when she was talking to Noah, I'd rather I didn't end up with a headache. Neo gave the dog to Lena and Iva and we joined the group. We walked towards the mall, I already knew this was a very bad idea, but at least I knew Ian dies soon.


	5. Mall pt.1

Wyn brought us to a back entrance, a staff only room.

"Just like Joseph said, it's clear," Wyn opened the door all the way. "This is the door to the mall's back room, where they stack unused units. It's not open to the public so its the safest place we have to enter the mall without running into any monsters." The section of the mall we were in was pretty much abandoned, most of the the undead must be gathered towards the front of the mall. We found a map of the mall, the top floor was where the food was.

"Is there a reason for the food section being on the top floor?" Noah asked, looking at the map. 

"This mall didn't originally have a food section," Wyn explained. "It was recently added a few months ago." 

"This is going to be a lot more difficult than I anticipated," Noah sighed. "Even if we managed to get upstairs undetected, getting downstairs and out of here is going to be a completely different story." 

"Will you make up your mind?" I crossed my arms, "I really don't want to be here longer than we need to be." 

"We'll just have to make it work. Wyn, your city, your mall. You know the way around here, lead us." Noah turned back to the group, "try and avoid populated areas. That should minimize the chance of us running into one of those things." He looked at me, Neo and Mana, "you three, stick close to the group. Don't wander off on your own without telling anyone." 

"I'm not dumb, I know." I retorted. 

"Got it, got it." Mana looked really excited. 

"Stop nagging, only women do that." Neo deadpanned.

"Excuse me for worrying about your safety," Noah shot back.

"Nobody asked you to." 

I sighed, these two will never get along... I looked back to the group, there were two guys talking in the back, and an undead behind them. My eyes widened, they were going to get bitten if they didn't move. I felt some weird feeling as I called out to them.

"Look-" Li bashed its head in before I could warn them. "Out... That works too." The feeling disappeared. What was that feeling just now? 

"We need to get a move on," Li stared down at the undead's body. "I made too much noise just now, the others are probably gonna be coming over soon." 

"T-thank you..." One of the guys at the back was looking at Li, clearly surprised. 

"Please pay attention to your surroundings," Li turned back to the group, "and no need to thank me. It's not like I managed to kill that thing completely." We started walking, finally. Wyn was in the front with Noah leading the way. We found an empty store, and decided that would be the first place we looked for stuff. I ended up going straight to the weapons, knives. Since I had no other way to protect myself at the moment, and I already knew how to handle them. I grabbed one that looked good enough and went over to Neo, who was looking at glasses. 

"What's so interesting about the glasses?" I watched him put them down.

"Nothing," he turned away, looking at an ear cuff that was laying on the shelf. He picked it up, It looked like it had belonged to someone. Was he trying to find items with abilities? He tossed the ear cuff to me. "Keep that on you for now." I was about to question why, but Noah interrupted. 

"Neo, Melody, have either of you felt anything different lately?" What? I thought back to that feeling I got earlier when the undead was behind those guys. Is that what he meant? Or was he assuming that because we're teenagers... 

"Define difference," Neo looked over at Noah. 

"Never mind..." Noah looked away.

"Whatever then, weirdo." 

"Look at you," Mana walked over, "daddy's favorite son." Neo just ignored her, I shot her a glare. "He's your dad right? He looks a bit young but I can tell with how much attention he was giving you." Neo looked over at Mana, unamused. "How does it feel being spoiled by your parents? I bet you got it pretty easy in life, huh?" 

"Spoiled?" Neo let out a laugh, "it's really none of your business, is it?" He grabbed my wrist, pulling me away with him. 

"Wait, don't just walk away from me like that! I-it's fine if you're spoiled. You're still a lot better than some kids I know." 

"Is that your way of trying to strike up a conversation? Cute, but go away. Talking with you is a waste of time." 

"W-waste of time?! What about her?" She pointed at me.

"Please don't bring me into this..." I groaned, annoyed. 

"She isn't annoying, and she's useful." Neo turned walking away, I stayed with him. How was I useful, exactly?

"Okay, I shouldn't have said that, but you're being a real pain right now! Stop ignoring me, I'm trying to be sociable here! Are you even listening to me?!" Thank god Noah was getting everyone together again, I didn't have to deal with Mana's constant talking. Wyn went ahead to make sure there were no undead ahead of us.

"Do you think we'll get to encounter a horde of zombies just like the movies?" Mana still wouldn't shut up.

"Sure and you would probably be the fist to die." I retorted, clearly annoyed. She didn't seem to catch that, though. 

"Hah, you wish. I'm different, if anything, I'd be the last one to run into danger." 

"Overconfident people tend to die first, last time I checked." Neo told her.

After walking for what felt like forever, we got to a decent sized store. Noah told Neo, Mana and I to stay close when we look around. Mana, of course, was shoulder to shoulder with Neo. 

"Chicken, you're way too close to me, get away. Go to Melody or something." Neo glared at Mana. 

"Oh, don't you dare..." I mumbled. 

"Chicken?! You're the chicken, your entire family is chicken!" Mana returned the glare. "Y-your dad said to stay close to each other. I'm just, ugh... Keeping check of you...!" Mana finally got the hint and went off to the other end of the aisle, leaving me and Neo alone. I was relieved until I heard a noise, undead. 

"Neo..." 

"Yeah I hear it," he looked over where Mana was, we walked over to her quietly. She moved a box, the undead was in the other aisle.

"Ah-" Neo covered her mouth.

"Shut up, don't scream." Neo watched until the undead was out of sight, and let Mana go. He began walking back to where Noah was. 

"W-wait, where are you going?" Mana had to walk quicker to catch up with Neo and I.

"Informing the others of the wandering undead. What? You want to take care of it yourself?" We got back to the group, Noah noticed us almost instantly. 

"Neo? Is something the matter?" He looked at all three of us. 

"There's an undead in the next aisle," Neo crossed his arms. 

"They seem to be scattered around the place... There doesn't seem to be a lot of them, luckily, but it'd still be dangerous of we're spotted. There isn't exactly an easy way to kill them. I think we have enough supplies now, we should leave-" Noah stopped when he turned, Li was behind him with a girl, Alix. She was always one of my favorites. 

"I found her lurking behind one of the shelves," Li explained. 

"I-I come in peace?" Alix looked nervous. 

"Stop joking around." 

"I meant it! I wasn't sure if you were a zombie or a normal person, so I was just being careful. Can you let me go now?" 

"Master Noah will decide that." Oh boy, this was going to be interesting. Noah had Li let Alix go.

"Besides you, are there any other survivors stuck on this floor?" Noah questioned her. 

"When I woke up, the whole place was already swarming with these things," Alix explained. "Downstairs was already a blood bath, so we went upstairs. A few of us got picked up by a couple military trained guys and we ran to find a safe place." She must be talking about Azael and Theo. 

"Then why haven't you guys escaped? The undead scatter after some time without any specific target, it shouldn't be too hard for you guys to form an escape plan." 

"About that, we have a little complication regarding the abilities of our group members." 

"complication?" Wyn asked.

"It's pretty hard to form an escape plan when you have a pregnant lady, an old man, and some useless teenagers. The only capable ones are the two military brothers, but of course, they don't want to leave anyone behind." 

"Then why are you still with them?" Li asked her, "you're wandering around this place when you could've just left." 

"Let's just say, according to my calculations, I wouldn't be able to make it all the way out of here on my own." 

"You mean you tried, failed, and now you're scared," Neo cut in. "Just to keep it short." 

"Straight forward, I like you kid," Alix laughed a little. "Yeah I attempted to escape with some men shortly after the outbreak, but we didn't make it too far. If you're curious about what happened to them, spoiler, they're all dead." 

"Then what are you doing all alone out here?" Noah asked, "attempting another escape?" 

"Sort of, we can't just stay put in one spot for too long with no food or water, so I made my way out here to grab some stuff and to scout out the area." I already knew she was going to ask us to help her group out, "How did you guys make it up here? How's the situation downstairs? Actually, let me take you guys back to our hideout, an unfortunate group like ours could really use a helping hand." Noah and Li stared at her, now suspicious. "Why're you giving me those stink-eyes?" 

"Yeah I guess they do need some help..." Wyn spoke, "but the decision is still up to Mr. Noah." Noah sighed.

"What? Are we really going?" I walked up to Noah and Neo.

"What a hassle," Neo sighed. 

"It's a nice gesture to help people who are in need," Noah decided to pat Neo, who surprisingly didn't fight back this time. He just stared at Noah, who backed off really quick. This trip is going to turn into a headache really fast...


	6. Mall pt.2

Alix brought us to a locked, metal door. Her knocking was loud, but it should be fine. A woman with red hair opened the door and let us in. I forgot her name, she wasn't exactly a favorite of mine. 

"You better hurry up and get inside already, there might be zombies around." She closed the door behind us. Eight people. I knew Noah had counted them all on the way in, but I already knew who most of them were. 

"Did you seriously just bring back a bunch of strangers?" A man with magenta hair asked, I think his name was Valens. "Would they even be of any use? They look like they already have their hands full with those three kids." 

"Excuse me?" Mana looked annoyed.

"Oh come on, don't be such a party pooper." Alix tried to lighten the mood.

"I have no time to sugar coat my words," Valens adjusted his glasses. "I'm just simply voicing my concerns." 

"Brat, is this the kind of attitude to give to the people you're seeking help from?" Ian scoffed. 

"Sorry for his behavior, All of us here are a bit on edge." Theo came up behind Valens. I just had to keep my mouth shut until the introductions were done, I didn't want to accidentally call someone by their name and have to explain it. 

"I understand," Noah stepped forward. "My apologies for my brothers behavior too." 

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Theo Howland, I'm a police officer and an army reserve. That's Valens Augustine," Magenta hair. "The couple over there are Axel Lascher and Esther Flier," I'm sure we already know them. "She's Alix Blanche," we know her too. "Tia L'enclos," The red haired woman that let us in. "Mrs. Baron and Mr. Baron," the older couple, "and the last one is my brother Azael Howland." 

"Ah, then allow me to introduce myself," Noah started.

"Ah, that's alright, I can do it for you." Alix seemed almost threatening. "Mr. Noah Collins, CEO of ARC Corporation. It's an honor to run into you, you're quite a famous man, you see?" 

"And do you have a problem with my master?" Li's grip on that bat was scary, she looked like she could bash anyone's head in at any moment.

"Oh my, why would I have any problem at all? I'm not a cop, so it's really none of my business, you see." Alix smiled, "I just thought everyone here would like to be more informed." She glared at Li.

"Nobody cares if you open your god damn mouth," Li glared back.

"Whoops, did I step on a minefield? My bad."

"I'm flattered you know who I am," Noah interrupted the two, "but the current situation has nothing to do with my title, does it? Just calling me Noah will be fine." 

"Is it just me or does there seem to be a lot of things wrong with this atmosphere?" Wyn observed. 

"Did she say ARC's CEO?" A random guy from the earlier group asked.

"And? What's ARC?" Wyn was genuinely confused, "is that the reason for this gloomy atmosphere?" 

"Do you live under a rock or something buddy?" Axel scoffed, "you really don't know what ARC is or who he is?" 

"Well, I know Mr. Noah's from Zora city." 

"And? Come one, you must was TV once or twice. The guy's face was always on the news channel. Alright, here's a little history lesson for you. ARC's company is well known for their advanced technology in the medical field, but do you know what else they're also famous for?" 

"Drug trading, illegal science experiments, and confidential information brokering." Mr. Baron chimed in. "Even though none of the outlets that made any of those claims have any hard proof, if there's smoke, there's a fire. You got yourself quiet an infamous man." 

"How are you so sure it's the same guy? People can look similar to each other." Wyn pointed out.

"That choker is a dead giveaway, it's a heart monitor, one of ARC's exclusive inventions, designed specifically for it's president." 

"Oh, I see." 

"'Oh, I see'? Is that your only reaction? We're talking about a criminal here." 

"An 'alleged' criminal. besides, that's unimportant, criminal or not, we're all trying to survive here." 

"Aren't you quite an optimist."

"Not optimistic, just desperate. We'll depend on even a serial killer if that's what it takes to survive." Mana, Neo and I were just off to the side, listening. We couldn't join in on the conversation because they wouldn't have listened anyways. Mana wasn't very happy about that. 

"You can glare all day and they still wouldn't pay you any attention." Neo told her. 

"They wouldn't let us join the discussion..." Mana was biting on her nail. "They really are treating us like a bunch of kids." 

"Does it really matter that much?" Neo was just watching.

"It's not like it would've made a difference," I sighed. 

"Are you two really fine with this? You guys aren't curious at all?" A bang at the door stopped me from saying anything else to her. One single bang turned into multiple, the undead were here. 

"That sound..." Tia looked at the door, "you must be joking..." 

"How the fuck did those monsters find their way here?" Esther looked at Alix.

"What are you looking at me for? Implying that it's my fault?" Alix glared at Esther. 

"Shut it, this is not the time to be pushing the blame around." Valens got in-between the two girls. While everyone else was fighting, I looked over to Neo, who was staring at the door, very annoyed. Wasn't it Neo that they were going after? I remembered in later chapters, the undead, for the most part, only target Neo.

"Does anyone know where that vent leads?" I heard Noah ask, snapping me out of thought.

"Now that you mention it, that vent does lead out of this room." Azael told Noah. 

"Can't you see how small that thing is?" Ian pointed out, "who do you think can even-" He saw Mana, who was practically glowing, "-fit..." 

"I can do it! Let me do it!" She was way too excited. 

"No," I grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the vent. "Neo will." 

"I will?" Neo looked at me. I just sent him a look that said 'I know you know what's going on.' "Fine, I'll go." 

"What?" Mana looked at him, upset.

"I said I'll go." 

"But I volunteered first!"

"What does volunteering have have to do with this? What are you going to do about a horde of undead when you're scared by the sight of only one of them?" Mana shrunk away from him, he was right. "Don't volunteer just because you think its fun." 

"Mana, This isn't the time to be stubborn," Wyn told her. Noah was looking at Neo with a very uneasy stare.

"What's with that look?" Neo looked at Noah, "don't want me to do? You think I'm that useless too?" 

"That's not what I meant! What made you think that?" 

"Then let me go. You don't have a lot of options to consider here, but honestly, what am I expecting from you? You've never had any faith in me." 

"Fine, go." Noah moved off to the side. "Just try to be careful. If it's really impossible, come back. We'll think of another plan." 

"There's no need for that." 

"Don't be too cocky." 

"Just shut up," Neo threw his backpack to Noah. "You're nagging again. Stop acting so protective, it's disgusting coming from you." 

"He'll be fine, Noah." I was now standing next to him, watching. 

"Do you need a hand getting up to the vent?" Theo offered. 

"No," Neo replied, lowering slightly then running up to the vent, easily jumping up to it. "The vent isn't that high up, I'm not that useless." Then he disappeared into the vent.

"You've got quite a dependable son there," Tia came ended up with me and Noah at some point. "He doesn't look scared at all..." 

"Dependable, huh." Noah muttered. 

"What about her?" Tia looked at me. "Is she your daughter? She seems to be a smart girl, stopping the other girl from going."

"Ah, no... She's a friend of Neo's." A friend? Did I really seem that close to Neo? 

"Sending a child like that..." Mrs. Baron sounded worried, "is he going to be ok?" 

"He better not die a useless death after all that talk." Ian scoffed. We all waited, I knew Neo would be okay. Eventually, the banging quieted down.

"The banging stopped," Li looked back at the door.

"Did the zombies get lured away?" Valens asked.

"What about Neo?" Noah looked back at the vent. 

"Now that I think about it, we never established how he could distract the monsters..." Wyn thought out loud.

"What are you trying to imply?" Noah looked at him, "he knows what he's doing."

"It's nice that you seem to recognize my abilities," Neo was back, "but you're being way too cheesy. Just act how you normally do." He hopped out of the vent. "Anyways, we better get a move on. They're not going to stay distracted for long." 

"The coast's clear," Theo called back to us. "I'll give instructions on the way, stay together and don't get separated. Mr. and Mrs. Baron, I'll be helping you guys as we make our way out of here. 

"Thanks for holding on to that," Neo snatched his bag away from Noah.

"Thank you for doing something so dangerous," Noah said back.

"I did it for myself," Neo turned away from him. Azael went ahead to kill the few undead that were in our path. It was sad that I already knew he was going to die later on. 

"Hey, how did you manage yo lure those monsters away?" Mana asked Neo.

"None of your business. Besides, is this really the time for small talk? Leave me alone." Neo completely brushed her off. 

"What? But, we're just walking..."

"Are you bored or what? Learn to read the atmosphere." 

"Jeez..." Mana backed up to where I was walking, "how the hell do you manage to get along with him?" I just shrugged, I didn't even know. 

"You kids sure talk a lot, must have it easy being a kid." Ian glanced back at us.

"What do you mean easy, old man? You aren't doing anything either!" Mana glared at him, "and FYI, it was Neo who lured the monsters away, not you." 

"It wasn't you either-"

"Quit it." Noah interrupted them. A loud shattering sound made me look back, damn Esther and her need for money brought a horde straight to us. 

"What's all that commotion in the back?" Noah asked, we were now running.

"Sir, the zombies on this floor found is and are now catching up to us." Everyone stopped, we were stuck. 

"How are we supposed to get through that?" Tia was looking down at the undead on the first floor." 

"Don't panic!" Theo called to us.

"How are we supposed to not panic when we're boxed in by a bunch of monsters?" Ian asked Theo. Theo told us to knock the ones on this floor down, we listened but it wasn't helping very much, there were too many."

"Hey, do something," Mana was looking over the edge, "more are coming this way!" Noah had Mrs. Baron keep Mana, Neo and I towards the center of the group. Neo and I were close to Ian then I wanted, but there was no where else to go. Neo was keeping me close to him, so I didn't accidentally get in the way of someone.

"Let go!" Ian yelled behind us. I looked back, he grabbed Neo and threw him to the undead. 

"NEO!" I screamed, reaching out hoping to stop his fall. The feeling reappeared, and this time I swore the world lit on fire. 


	7. Powers

He will not die. _He will not die._ ** _He will not die._**

Fire, blue fire. I felt an overwhelming fear and anger take me over. I was holding on to Neo, falling with him, but there was that blue fire, protecting us. Noah was late to respond, he could've died. _He could have died._ Noah finally used his ability, giving us the time to get back un the stairs, my fire didn't stop. That bitch, Ian. 

"You _bitch._ " I snarled when I got to the top of the stairs. I was blocking everyone else out now, the only person I cared for right now was Ian. That fear had turned into anger, an anger that I couldn't stop. Beautiful blue flames danced around me, he needed to pay. "You threw him..." 

"What?" Ian was staring at me, shocked. 

"You fucking threw him!" I lunged forward, my fist making contact with his jaw. I could feel my body heating up, I needed to be quick. 

"I saw you throw him," Noah walked over. I kept clenching and unclenching my fists. Oh, how I wanted to throw him off this damn floor myself. 

"It was an accident!" Ian backed up.

"Yeah fucking right!" I took a step closer to him, the fire getting dangerously close to Ian. "I watched you grab him."

"Besides, you don't care about him anyways," Ian looked at Noah, "don't suddenly act like you give a damn! Didn't you always go around yelling that he wasn't your son to begin with?!" Something snapped in Noah when he heard that.

"You threw a child into a horde of monsters, does it matter if I care or not?" Noah was watching him with a deadly stare. "You never changed, Ian." He looked at me, a look that told me to do what I wanted with him. I smiled, kicking him down onto the railing, my flames burning him. 

"W-what are you doing?" Ian watched me, obviously scared. 

"This timeline is better off without you, Ian." I heard Noah behind me. I kicked him right off the edge, watching him fall into the horde. It was so satisfying to be the one killing him. 

"You bitch!" I heard him yell up at me as he fell. 

"Melody, that's enough, you can stop now." Noah couldn't get too close without getting burned from the heat. There was one issue, I couldn't stop it. No.. No, I wasn't going to have what happened with Li happen to me. "Melody!" 

"I can't..." My voice was shaking. "It wont stop..." I could feel myself heat up, my own flames were burning me. I kept trying to get it to stop, nothing was working.

"Melody," That voice, "You can stop, I'm fine." The flames cleared up instantly. Neo... How did he do that? 

"How..." I looked at him, "how did you- Ah!" My head started pounding, I was still way too hot as well. 

"Doesn't matter, come on." He helped me catch up to everyone else. I was struggling to keep my balance, I was exhausted. Noah was clearing the way with his ability. At one point, I almost collapsed, Neo stopped me from falling into Noah. Li ended up carrying me out, I ended up passing out.

~

I slowly opened my eyes, adjusting to the light. I was alone. I slowly got out of bed, the clock said it was one in the morning, that means Noah is already awake. I realized I wasn't in my own clothes. The clothes I was wearing before were covered in blood, I was in my shorts, but the hoodie wasn't mine, who's was it... Wait. This is the room Neo was staying in, which means this hoodie... My face heated up, no, don't think about that. I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me. There were voices downstairs. I slowly went down the stairs, make sure to be quiet. 

"...Let go," I heard Neo, "it's none or your business." 

"I won't, not until you answer me." Noah. "Are you injured?" Neo went back to the mall, and I know exactly what he went back for. I was standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching. 

"Hmph," Neo looked to the side, directly at me, then back to Noah. "What if I told you I got bit?" Noah grabbed Neo's arm, pulling up his sleeve. 

"There don't seem to be any injuries..." 

"It was a joke, do you really think I'm stupid enough to get myself wounded?" 

"Then where did that blood come from?"

"None of your concern, just know I'm not wounded. Or can you not even afford to put any trust in me?" 

"I'm just worried, of course I believe in you..." 

"Then that problem's settled," Neo looked at Noah's hand, which was bandaged. "Anyways, your hand seems to be fine. Are those bandages for show?" 

"I mean," Noah let go on Neo, "it's a bit painful now that you mention it, but it's not that bad..." 

"Only 'a bit'?" Neo crossed his arms, Noah looked away from him. "Why did you do that?" Noah looked back at Neo, "why did you bother saving us? It's unlike you." 

"Unlike me? Of course I'd try to save you. Anybody in that situation-" 

"You should be the last person to believe in that bullcrap. Nobody is that selfless." 

"Neo, you're still my son-"

"I know that's a lie," I cut in. Noah looked at me, surprised. I had never been told by either of them.

"I am _not_ your son," Neo continued. "You always made sure I remembered that, didn't you?" 

"Neo... You're still my family." 

"Said the one who coldheartedly pushed his own brother to his death," Neo laughed dryly. "You hate him, but I reckon you also hate me just as much as him, don't you? Because I'm his child." 

"Sorry..." Noah looked away from both of us. "About your real father." 

"Are you being serious or is that supposed to be a bad joke?" Neo was staring him down, "I couldn't care less about whether that man lived or died. Besides, 'real father'? I'm surprised you managed to spit out those two words. Don't you feel disgusted?" 

"I guess that wasn't what you wanted to hear me..." 

"You still haven't answered me," Neo interrupted him. "Why bother saving us? It almost cost you your life. Or are you trying to avoid answering me, again?" 

"Neo, even if you're not my son, you're still my nephew, my family." He was completely avoiding why he helped me. 

"Oh? All of the sudden family now matters to you? I matter to you?" 

"Neo, listen to me for once! Was it that bad I tried to save you? You're still important to me! Is that so hard to believe?!" I didn't have my earplugs in, my head was beginning to hurt. 

"Shut the fuck up." There was my favorite line. Neo glared up at Noah. 

"Neo..." 

"Listen here," He grabbed Noah's shirt, pulling him down to his height. "Don't think you can just decide to play nice whenever you want and then expect me to accept you with open arms." Neo let Noah go. "It's a bit late for that." His hand then went to the earring, "I take it this earring is also one of your tricks. Do you think putting it on me without my knowledge means I accepted your stupid gift? Do you really think that's all it takes to win me over? You can have it back for all I care." He started pulling the earring off, Noah stopped him.

"Stop!" Noah grabbed Neo's arm, but let go quickly. "Sorry... That's not it, the earring is useful. You saw what Melody and I could do right? This might be a lot to take in right now, but your earring also has a special power. I'm sorry for putting it on you without asking, just trust me this once." 

"Trust you? Based on what? I don't feel like trusting someone who's keeping secrets from me." 

"There's absolutely no reason for me to lie to you, and..." He couldn't say it, "Neo, I-" Law wouldn't let him. "I won't hurt you anymore. I know my words probably don't mean a lot to you, but give me a chance. I'm not your enemy, Neo. You don't have to trust me right away, but at least allow me to prove it." 

"Oh? Is your guilt eating away at you now? That's strange, you've been actively avoiding Abel in favor of me. Did _your son_ do something wrong?" 

"I wasn't exactly avoiding him..." 

"Say that to someone that will actually buy your words, you're a terrible liar, you always were one." Neo began walking away from Noah. "Come on, Melody." I quickly caught up with him. 

"Neo, wait!" Neo and I both looked back at Noah. 

"What?" 

"Oh, it was nothing... Sorry, have a good night." Noah turned away and left, leaving Neo and I. 

"Hey, Neo..." I looked over at him. "How did you do that?" 

"Do what?" He leaned against the table. 

"How did you stop my ability?" 


	8. Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short chapter today

"How did you stop my ability?" I looked at Neo. 

"It really isn't that interesting, but whatever," Neo sighed, still leaning against the table "Since you're already asking about it, I might as well show you how to use your ability. Come here," I walked over to Neo, "put out your hand and close your eyes." He instructed, I did what he told me to. "Image a flame, preferably a small one. You don't wanna burn the whole damn house down." I pictured a flame, it wasn't actually that hard as I have seen what my flames look like already. "Focus on it." I did, I could feel its heat forming om my hand, it wasn't a painful heat like when I lost control, its was a comforting heat. "Huh, you got that much quicker than last time..." Last time? I opened my eyes, a small blue flame was just barely hovering over my hand. It was beautiful. I closed my hand around it and the flame disappeared. "Good, do that again." Neo was watching me closely, I had another flame in only a few seconds. "Alright now," he stood up completely, "stop." My flame suddenly disappeared. I didn't do that, Neo did. Neo walked over to me and put his hand on my head, "I'll only do that if you lose control, so don't do that will ya?" 

"You..." I started laughing.

"What?" Neo looked confused.

"Sorry... You're just... You're actually being nice." As if he had only just realized this himself, his hand dropped back to his side.

"Whatever, I put clothes for you in the room down the hall from mine and Noah's," He began walking up the stairs to his room, "take the room if you want." He was about to shut his door when he remembered something. "Ah, wait, Melody," He turned back to me.

"Yeah?"

"Almost forgot this," There was a moment of red light, then he had an mp3 player and my earbuds in his hand. He tossed them over to me. "Thought you might want those." He closed his door, leaving me standing by my room, trying to process what just happened. 

~

It had been almost an hour since that happened, I couldn't sleep. I stared at the mp3 player that I was holding, why would Neo bother with this? He was always so cold to everyone in the comic, why is he being nice to me? What's different? I took out my earplugs, listening to music should help calm me down and let me sleep. I plugged the earbuds into the mp3 player and put them on. Hitting play, I instantly recognized the first some that played. It's All So Incredibly Loud by Glass Animals. I had loved this song before I ended up here, memories of my old life flooded back to me. I had 3 siblings, an older sister, my twin brother and a younger sister. I wonder if I'll ever see them again... I remembered my 17th birthday, two months before this happened. I was so happy to be in my last year of school, only to end up 13 again. Although I wasn't complaining about being in a comic I loved, I still missed home. 

~ Flashback ~

_"Vee!" My little sister, Anya, called me. She would always pronounce melody melovee, and eventually it just turned into vee. I looked back at her with a questioning gaze. "Can you play hide and seek with me and Ash?" I looked back at my brother who just gave me a look that said 'I didn't have a choice.'_

_'Yeah, of course.' I signed to her. As if just on cue, my mother called me._

_"Mel! Could you help me with dinner?" Liza wasn't going to help again?_

_'Maybe later,' I signed, looking back at Anya._

_"Aw... Well I guess its just me and you Ash!" She ran back to my brother, who looked very done with life. I laughed quietly, walking into the kitchen to help with dinner._

~ Flashback End ~

That was the last night I got with them and I didn't even see Liza at all. A knock at the door snapped me out of that thought. I took the earbuds out, pausing the song.

"I know you aren't asleep." Why is Neo here? 

"You can come in." I sighed, sitting up. Neo opened the door, the dog followed behind him before he shut it. "What is it?" 

"Couldn't sleep and had a feeling you were still up," He finally looked at me. "You're still in the hoodie." 

"Huh," I looked down at what I was wearing, I was, in fact, still in his hoodie. My faced heated up. "Ah... Sorry, I forgot..."

"It's fine, I don't care." He nudged Hail forward, who then ran under the bed. 

"Neo," He looked back at me, "I know you wouldn't be here without a reason, why are you here?" 

"Hmm," Neo looked impressed, "Well you need sleep, and eventually with enough use of an ability you end up exhausted. So I'm going to show you how to use the ear cuff and then help you with your ability." I forgot about that. 

~

Neo wasn't lying when he said you end up exhausted. He had shown me the ability on the ear cuff, gravity manipulation. It was very difficult to get the hang of, I could barely even use it right now. Using the cuff wasn't very tiring, it was my own ability that was. He had shown me that I could make small weapons out of the flames, bending the flames into shapes took a lot of focus and energy. Eventually, when I got the hang of small knives and daggers, we moved onto self-defense. I could use the flames as a barrier of sort to protect myself. I could change the size of it and how hot the flames were. We ended up training for almost 2 hours. 

~

I felt like I was going to pass out. I was still trying to get the hang of controlling the flames temperature and I could feel myself slipping more and more. Eventually, my body just gave up on me, I ending up collapsing. Neo reached forward to catch me, he had noticed well before that I was reaching my limit. I gasped as I almost hit the floor, Neo got to me before that happened though. 

"It's fine, I got you." He muttered, easily picking me up and putting me on the bed. I was barely awake at this point, drifting in and out of consciousness. I felt him put the blankets over me before getting Hail and going to the door. "Sleep well, Mel." He shut the door. I was out. 


	9. Gas station

I woke up to light coming through the window, hitting my face. I looked at the time, almost 9, no point in going back to sleep. I got up and got dressed. Neo had left a grey hoodie, black shorts, my knee high socks from before, now washed, and my boots. I put on the ear cuff, even though I couldn't really use it. Right as I was opening my door I heard voices. 

"How childish," Neo and Abel were arguing, well mostly Abel. 

"How original," Able retorted right as I stepped outside my room. "I don't know what you did to get Papa's attention, but in the end I still got to spend more time with him." 

"Sounds awful, I pity you." I looked over to the half brothers, Neo was the only one who had looked over at me. 

"Right, continue playing hard to get. He'll get sick of your sour attitude sooner or later." Abel glared at Neo. "We both know what a jealous, pitiful asshole you really are, same with your girlfriend there." He finally looked at me. 

"Girlfriend?" I muttered, shaking my head. There was no point in arguing with an 8 year old.

"Hm..." Neo gave up in arguing with Abel and went downstairs, I followed him but I swear, I could see a little bit of red not covered by the mask. Neo was looking for Noah, I didn't know my way around so I had no clue where he was. Neo also seemed to have no clue where he was because he was just wandering around. Eventually we started walking down a hallway and heard voices.

"... It's not like I can see whatever I want, whenever I want," I instantly recognized Mana's voice. Neo and I turned the corner. "It just comes to me, alright?" I was about to walk away, not wanting to be with Mana, but Neo had noticed. He grabbed my arm, causing me to keep walking behind him. I rolled my eyes internally. Noah looked over at us two. 

"Good morning, Neo and Melody." Mana instantly turned to Neo when Noah greeted us, she looked terrified. 

"Excuse me," She ran off. Neo watched her go, completely unbothered. 

"What happened between you three?" Noah looked at us questioningly. "I thought you all got along..." 

"That's the first time I've seen her hightail it that fast," Wyn chimed in. 

"Got along are you blind?" Neo glared at Noah.

"But you and Melody..." 

"Don't drag me into this," I muttered. 

"That's different," Neo quickly responded. "She's useful." Am I? 

"Anyways, were you looking for me?" Noah quickly changed the subject. "Is there something you need?" 

"Yes, very important," Neo help up the dog. "Hail needs proper dog food, it's unhealthy to keep feeding him our leftovers." I deadpanned at that first part, Neo literally forgot grammar for a second there. It was kind of funny though. Noah stared at Neo, not believing him. "I'm serious." Neo returned the stare.

"What about you Melody?" Noah sighed.

"I didn't wanna be here," I deadpanned. Neo ignored my obvious glare at him and looked over at Wyn and the others that were down the hall. 

"I see you agreed to drag some more burdens around." 

"Don't be like that, they can be helpful too." Noah told Neo.

"How nice, the old man made some new buddies." Neo turned and began walking away, grabbing my arm as well. "Anyway, we still need some dog food. Get the high quality one, Marshmallow would look ugly being all skinny." I snickered at the new nickname for Hail. 

"Marshmallow? Didn't you just call him Hail? We agreed..." Neo and I turned the corner, Noah's complaints quieting down as we got farther away. 

"Why did you drag me along?" I glared at Neo.

"Why not. It's not like you have anything else to do." He put the Hail down, letting him run around the house. 

~

Noah ended up having me and Neo join him, Theo and Wyn. I knew he had Neo join because he wanted to show him how to use the earing, but why did I have to join? 

"What are you dragging Melody and I along for?" Neo asked Noah.

"Be patient with me, will you?" Noah glanced over at Neo. "I'm going to show you how to use your earing." 

"What about me?" I deadpanned. 

"Well, Neo wouldn't join unless I brought you along as well..." 

"Very reassuring," I muttered. There was still another ten minute walk ahead, so I put in my headphones and played some music to keep me distracted from the fact I was the only girl in this group. 

~

About a ten minute walk later, Noah saying something took me out of my daze. 

"Is that the one?" We were now in front of a gas station. 

"Yep that's the one," Wyn said from behind us. "Thank god it didn't blow up amid the chaos like the rest. Those military guys might have been through here to refill their gas, the did a good job cleaning up." Wyn was right, there were undead littering this place, their heads blown almost completely off.

"Hopefully we still have some gas left in the tanks," Theo chimed in.

"Talking about those guys, do you think one of them might also have a special power like you, Mr. Collins?" 

"Probably. We can talk about that later," Noah looked back at Wyn and Theo. "The place might look clean but you should be careful. If you encounter an undead, just run and regroup." 

"Question," Theo raised his hand, I internally cringed.

"You don't have to raise your hand, you know." Noah looked at Theo.

"Undead? I keep hearing you say that. Is there a reason you don't call them zombies?" 

"Oh, that. Compared to the common fictional zombies, these guys can persist even after you remove their heads." Noah explained. "I thought a new name to distinguish the two would be less confusing." 

"One more question. If we're left with no choice but to defend ourselves, how should we go about... killing these undead?" 

"Well, typically you'll have to completely destroy their heads. It's where their hearts are." 

"Heart? In their heads?" 

"It's not literally a heart. The location isn't fixed, it could be anywhere in their head. Just know that if you destroy it, they'll stop moving. It's not an easy task without proper tools or weapons, unless you have some sort on super power, or course. An easier way is to immobilize the undead, cutting off their limbs is easier than trying to crush their heads into pieces." I got tired of listening to the explanation, I had an ability, I don't need to know about using normal weapons at the moment. I turned my music up, walking over to the gas pumps. Neo followed me and the others did too. The power was off, they didn't work. Neo grabbed my arm, bringing me with him as he walked to the store. I grumbled in annoyance.

"You don't have to drag me along, Neo." I sighed, "I was gonna follow you anyways." 

"I know." He still didn't let go of me. We walked into the store, where he finally decided he could let go. I watched him walk over to a door, there was an undead inside. I walked over hesitantly, looking in the room as well. 

"That sounds like an undead," Noah joined us. "We should lock the door to be safe-" 

"There's go need," Neo interrupted him. "Its locked from the inside. Besides, she's stuck. She's not going anywhere." He wasn't kidding. Noah decided to look in the room as well. 

"Oh... She probably shut herself inside to avoid the undead when the outbreak happened." 

"What a pathetic way to go out." Neo turned and walked away. I sighed and walked away as well. I grabbed a few pieces of candy and tossed some to Neo.

"Hey, Neo." Noah called over to where we were. "Come over here, let me show you how to use that earring." 

"And what would it do?" Neo walked over, I followed because he would just drag me along if I didn't. 

"It's an infinite, portable storage device." Noah explained, holding up a bag of chips. "The best way to learn is through practice. It might sound a bit obscure, but imagine-" Neo put his hand on the bag, it disappeared into red dust and a glow that lead to the earring. "When did you learn that...?" 

"Just now. Maybe I'm a genius after all." Neo said sarcastically. 

"You must be joking!" Noah grabbed Neo's face, looking at the earring.

"Let go." Neo stared at Noah with a grim expression. 

"Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to check." Noah let go of Neo instantly. "It just makes no sense how you can do that so effortlessly. Even though the concept of magic should be a fictional thing." 

"Oh, but you being able to control your blood and knowing all of these 'magical' things before anyone else should be normal?" 

"It's not the same!"

"Tell me, what's the difference then?" 

"That uh..." The lights turned on, giving Noah a chance to change the subject. "It seems like they got the generator working. Let's finish gathering things and turn on the gas pump."

"Ignoring my question again? Whatever I'm used to your bullshit," Neo flicked the earring. "Anyways, besides objects, can this thing store anything else?" 

"If I remember correctly, it's just inanimate objects." 

"Oh I see," Neo narrowed his eyes. "You 'remember.' So I cant store people inside this earring?"

"What?" My gaze shot over to Neo.

"Bad idea," Noah shook his head. "I'm sure it wont turn out pretty." 

"So you're unsure about it yourself. How about we test it out right now?" Neo held his hand up in Noah's direction. 

"If I let you test the earring on me, would you start trusting me more?" 

"You're willing to risk your life for something that trivial?" 

"Don't call yourself trivial..." 

"Oh wait, are you perhaps betting on the fact that I wouldn't do it?" 

"I'm betting on the fact that you don't actually want to risk my life for something that silly." 

"Hm... You really are full of yourself, old man," Neo sighed. "Your reaction is boring, it's not even fun anymore." He looked over to me. 

"Don't joke about something that dangerous." 

"You just have no sense of humor." 

"Am I supposed to laugh along with your joke when you threaten my life?" 

"You were supposed to act at least a little bit scared, old man. Besides, it's not like it's work anyway." Neo muttered that last part. I looked over at him with a questioning look. I mean, yeah, he would know that, but didn't parish have the earring before...? 

"Did you say something?" Noah looked back at us. 

"Did I?" 

"... Melody," Noah looked at me.

"Yeah?" I glanced over at him.

"What about your ability?" He asked. I sighed, creating a dagger with my fire to show him. Noah looked impressed. "Even you picked up on the abilities pretty fast..." Noah sighed and went over to the register right as Wyn and Theo were coming in.

"Hey, the pumps seem to be working fine with the generator running." Wyn called out as he walked though the broken door. "Although we still need to get to the register to unlock them-" 

"Already on it," Noah cut him off.

"you seem strangely familiar with this kind of machine," Wyn observed. "I'm surprised that the CEO of a big company like you would know how to operate this kind of thing."

"It's nothing impressive." Noah pressed a button that I assumed would start up the pumps.

"Hey shouldn't we hurry up?" Theo chimed in from the door. "The sooner we get gas the sooner we can leave." 

"It's done, the pumps should work now." Noah told him. I noticed Neo was watching the group from the side. "Lets go then. Neo, Melody," Noah looked at us and we followed them out of the store.

"I may be missing something here," Wyn sounded slightly concerned, "but do we have anything else to store the fuel in?"

"Is that why you brought a canister with you?" Noah looked over at him. "There isn't a need for that." 

"But how else are we supposed to...?"

"Do you already have things that we can use?" Theo asked.

"I never said we didn't have canisters on us." Noah walked over to where me and Neo were standing. "Neo, let me show you how to pull things out from-"

"There's no need," Neo stopped him, red dust and red light coming out of the earring, forming into a gas canister. Neo ended up take 3 canisters out. "Is that enough yet or do you want more?" 

"Wait hold on!" Wyn looks confused, "but how?" 

"It's more canisters, like you asked." Neo glared back at Wyn.

"You know that isn't what I meant!"

"Magic," Neo sounded done with this whole situation. I laughed quietly at the tone he used. 

"Well duh..." Wyn muttered. Noah also laughed this time. "Please don't laugh! It's a normal reaction!" 

"Sorry... you guys were just too amusing..." Noah apologized. "Melody and I aren't the only ones with powers in the group. Neo has what you'd call a pocket dimension. He can store and carry all sorts of objects without breaking a sweat. Useful, huh?" 

"That's actually-" Theo was cut off my Wyn.

"Amazing! I expected no less from your son, that's an amazing ability!" 

"Conveniently left out that it's the earring's power, not mine." Neo muttered. "I see." 

"They don't need to know that," Noah told Neo, quietly. 

"You're predictable to a fault, what a lame plan." Neo took two lollipops out the the earring, tossing one to me. 

"Well, excuse me for the 'lame plan.'" Neo began walking away from Noah, bringing me with him. "Where are you going?" 

"Grabbing the generator in the back, it might come in handy in the future." Neo explained.

"Melody keep an eye on him," Noah sighed.

"Got it," I muttered. I was seriously done with this supply run at this point. 


End file.
